Tradition Tuesday: Dear Mr. Postman

Since the price of a first-class stamp went up last week, I needed to make a trip to the post office. So I could buy a one-cent stamp. So I could absolutely mail in this edition of Tradition Tuesday. Enjoy.

Not much going on in the Choncosphere this week--no self-inflicted injuries or arrests, no big signings or cuts. So we take you, dear readers, to the suburban wilderness of New Jersey. Mets manager Willie Randolph, who's hanging on to his job by a thread, lashed out at the fans and the press over the weekend. He came up with some pretty wacky theories, and along the way invoked the name of our favorite coaching quote machine: Herman Edwards.

We encourage you read the full text of Ian O'Connor's interview, but here's the money shot:

Asked directly if he believes black managers are held to different standards than their white counterparts, Randolph said: "I don't know how to put my finger on it, but I think there's something there. Herman Edwards did pretty well here and he won a couple of playoff (games), and they were pretty hard on Herm. Isiah (Thomas) didn't do a great job, but they beat up Isiah pretty good...I don't know if people are used to a certain figurehead. There's something weird about it."

Now I'm not going to get into an analysis of race in this space. It's not what we do here. I'm sure there's some merit to what Randolph is saying, and I'm sure there's also some defensiveness and bitterness from a man who's about to get canned. Let's leave it at that.

But I do have to comment on the spectacular parallels Willie draws between his own situation and those of Isiah Thomas and Herman. If you're going to select kindred spirits, you may want to dig a little deeper.

Isiah Thomas was perhaps the worst coach or manager in the history of professional sports. He singlehandedly bankrupted the CBA. He took a loaded Pacers team from Larry Bird, a team that was fresh off an Eastern Finals appearance, and led them through several disappointing seasons. Immediately after he left, Rick Carlisle took them back to the Eastern Finals.

Then he went to the Knicks, and the fun really began. After loading the roster with complete shit as GM, he engineered the ouster of Larry Brown and took over the coaching duties himself. Under Isiah's "leadership," the Knicks were a leaguewide laughingstock, compiling a 56-108 record over two seasons. On top of that, Isiah was sued for sexual harassment by a team employee, and that lawsuit resulted in a jury award of $11 million and revelations that point guard Stephon Marbury banged an intern in his truck.

Courtesy of Deadspin, here's Isiah Thomas' Knicks legacy, summed up in one possession:



I'm sure Willie Randolph can see why the press and the fans "beat up Isiah pretty good." They pay the highest ticket prices in the NBA to watch the team with far and away the league's highest payroll, and Isiah gives them 56-108.

Now let's move on to Willie's other brother-in-victimhood, the honorable Herman. We adore Coach Edwards around here, because he's always giving us something to work with. He's an international television superstar due to his appearances on Hard Knocks, his YouTube cred is unmatched, and in his spare time he can even coach up a defense a little bit.

But go back to Herman's tenure with the Jets, the time period Randolph mentioned in relation to his own struggles, and it's hard to find much evidence of unfair treatment. Herman replaced Bill Parcells, who took the team to the AFC Championship game and left behind a fairly loaded roster. Herman did engineer three playoff appearances and two postseason wins, and for that he was praised in the media and rewarded with a fat new contract.

But in 2005, the Jet crashed and burned, and black box recordings reveal that pilot error on the part of Captain Herman was the main cause. Sure, they lost several key starters, including Chad Pennington, to injury. But Herman mailed in his job performance more egregiously than I've half-assed this post. The team reached open mutiny while Herman looked for another contract extension, and the final record was 4-12. All the while Carl Peterson brazenly broke league rules concerning tampering with another team's coach. The Jets and the Chiefs eventually worked out a deal, with KC sending a draft pick in exchange for Herman's services and the league offices burning all of the incriminating evidence.

Herman compiled a 39-41 record with the Jets. He was criticized heavily on all fronts, but that was almost entirely based on the ugly, unseemly, catastrophic 2005 campaign.

We could argue all day whether a white coach who turned in the job performance of Isiah Thomas or Herman would have received the same scrutiny. But it seems to me that the hostile fire directed at these men, as well as Willie Randolph, is attributable to working in the crucible of the New York media market. Win there, as Joe Torre and Tom Coughlin have, and you'll be sainted. Lose, like Ray Handley and Rich Kotite and Larry Brown did, and you'll get skewered.

Herman knows this, which is why he finagled his way out of the crucible and toward sleepy Kansas City. Draw your own conclusions about the level of racial enlightenment in either market. I just know that if I were the coach of a losing team, I'd rather that team be in a one-paper town in Missouri than The City That Never Sleeps.